some damn good IPA's out there

[Name Redacted]

Some guys from RR stopped in and dropped off a few pliney the elders for me the other day. I made sure to follow the instructions carefully and drank them immediately. Great beer, had it before but these seemed really fresh.

[Crass3000]

Some guys from RR stopped in and dropped off a few pliney the elders for me the other day. I made sure to follow the instructions carefully and drank them immediately. Great beer, had it before but these seemed really fresh.

They have dates on Pliney. You should be ablt to tell how old they are.

[Name Redacted]

They have dates on Pliney. You should be ablt to tell how old they are.

Oops, already trashed em. Dang. Guess I'll just have to grab some from the brewery in may when I'm out there.

[stapes]

What liquor store do you frequent to be able to get that many Pliny's? I'm in Lafayette and go to Liquor Mart in Boulder, Harvest in Boulder, and Union Jack in Louisville.

I went to PJ's and Twin Peaks, both in Longtucky. Both places you have to ask for it. They don't put it out on the shelf. PJ's had one left and the guy was kinda of a pretentious douche about it. But I grabbed it along with the Hoppin' Frog and Epic. Twin Peaks the dude was cool as hell. He went in back to check, came back and said they had plenty. I told him I'd take a 6'er! I know a lot places limit it to 2 per customer, like LiquorMart in Boulder. From now on Twin Peaks will get my business. Shot the shit about beer with the guy for about 10 minutes after I paid. Oh and they get a case of Pliny every month. He said all the employees use to take them all but now they're all a little Pliny'd out so they had a bunch in back.

Speaking of Union Jack, Firestone Walker Double Jack is quite amazing IMO. Apparently started out as a Pliny clone? Maybe some of you west coast mags know more about that. But that along with their IPA are both great.

Oh yea, the bottling date on all of the Pliny's I got is 2/6.

I'll look out for the Oskar Blues IPA, because we do get Oskar Blues out here.

Got some Avery IPA in a can at Beer Revolution last month, and it was damn fine.

The Avery IPA is another one of my regular go-to's. Can usually pick up a 6'er for $6.99 at one liquor store here. Can't beat that. Was at the brewery last weekend and had the dry-hopped IPA which was very good.

That Gubna is an ass-kicker. Smells like freshly trimmed nugs. My buddy and me have an ongoing joke about them causing you to trip cuz one night he had a few too many, went home, and his wife thought he was tripping. Potent.

And while not a true IPA, the G'Night (formerly Gordon) is a super hopped up red ale that is delicious. All of there beers are big and bold, really.

This thread rocks, btw

[SchralphMacchio]

ISpeaking of Union Jack, Firestone Walker Double Jack is quite amazing IMO. Apparently started out as a Pliny clone? Maybe some of you west coast mags know more about that. But that along with their IPA are both great.

It may have started out that way but Double Jack tastes nothing like Pliny to me or my friends. It's got different fruit qualities to it and totally sweeter malts. Not my style, though certainly not a bad beer.

Honestly, in that 8-9% alcohol range, I've not really ever had an Elder clone. I've had single IPAs that are similar to that style (but dialed down), but all the DIPAs I've had have always had a slightly different blend of hops and malts than the Elder. Usually more of something and less of something else, like caramalt but less plant-resin hops, or more resin-hops but less grapefruity hops, or more grapefruity hops but less silky mouthfeel etc. I wonder if it's just that hard of a recipe to clone due to the blend of wet and dry hopping?

[stapes]

It may have started out that way but Double Jack tastes nothing like Pliny to me or my friends. It's got different fruit qualities to it and totally sweeter malts. Not my style, though certainly not a bad beer.

Honestly, in that 8-9% alcohol range, I've not really ever had an Elder clone. I've had single IPAs that are similar to that style (but dialed down), but all the DIPAs I've had have always had a slightly different blend of hops and malts than the Elder. Usually more of something and less of something else, like caramalt but less plant-resin hops, or more resin-hops but less grapefruity hops, or more grapefruity hops but less silky mouthfeel etc. I wonder if it's just that hard of a recipe to clone due to the blend of wet and dry hopping?

I agree Schralph. I don't think they taste very comparable either. I had just heard that that is how it started off, then they just continued to make it what it is today. To me, Double Jack is a 'bigger' beer than Pliny. Pliny has more subtle tastes to it I think. A little more complex.

Looking forward to my next trip the Bay Area. The future wife's parents live out there and next time we visited we were going to do the Sonoma/Napa wine thing but I'm going to be pushing for some brewery visits as well!

[SchralphMacchio]

... we were going to do the Sonoma/Napa wine thing but I'm going to be pushing for some brewery visits as well!

No reason you can't do both! Ask me about the wineries in a separate thread or PM, and I don't think you'll be disappointed with my advice.

This little NorCal brewery tour can be conducted in a single day, all along one major highway (CA HWY 101):
Bear Republic - in downtown Healdsburg, about 1.5 hours north of SF, and walking distance from several tasting rooms. Cute shopping town makes the family happy.
Russian River - in downtown Santa Rosa (10 miles from Healdsburg!) and within 15 minutes driving distance from several awesome wineries, most of which have great estate or nearby Russian River valley vineyard Pinot Noirs
Lagunitas - in Petaluma, about half the distance between Santa Rosa and Novato
Moylan's - in Novato, about half-way between SF and Santa Rosa, and sometimes has barrel-conditioned Hopsickle Triple IPA on cask

(yes I'm leaving many out of the tour but these are all along 101 from SF to Healdsburg with minimal side-travel)

[Hugh Conway]

get a driver for the brewery tour - and a spare liver.

not sure if it was a misprint but Lagunitas was ad'ving 64oz of beer, in your own container for $2. On tap was an awesome brett'd beer.

Heard good things about 3rd street aleworks in Santa Rosa.



Double Jack's a decent beer but I'm not a fan of the style - I like more hop aroma to my beers.

[SchralphMacchio]

get a driver for the brewery tour - and a spare liver.

Sound advice that I left out. No joke!

[stapes]

No reason you can't do both! Ask me about the wineries in a separate thread or PM, and I don't think you'll be disappointed with my advice.

This little NorCal brewery tour can be conducted in a single day, all along one major highway (CA HWY 101):
Bear Republic - in downtown Healdsburg, about 1.5 hours north of SF, and walking distance from several tasting rooms. Cute shopping town makes the family happy.
Russian River - in downtown Santa Rosa (10 miles from Healdsburg!) and within 15 minutes driving distance from several awesome wineries, most of which have great estate or nearby Russian River valley vineyard Pinot Noirs
Lagunitas - in Petaluma, about half the distance between Santa Rosa and Novato
Moylan's - in Novato, about half-way between SF and Santa Rosa, and sometimes has barrel-conditioned Hopsickle Triple IPA on cask

(yes I'm leaving many out of the tour but these are all along 101 from SF to Healdsburg with minimal side-travel)

Sounds nice. I'll keep this in mind for when we do make it back out there. Busy year already so not sure when that will be. Thanks for the recommendations.

[The Tortoise]

I had a can of the Alchemist's Heady Topper for the first time this weekend. Ok, I had three. A damned fine beer that will become a regular on my trips to Vermont.

[fool]

One of the more entertaining beer (IPA) labels I've seen. From Ipswich, MA.

[guroo270]

I went to PJ's and Twin Peaks, both in Longtucky. Both places you have to ask for it. They don't put it out on the shelf. PJ's had one left and the guy was kinda of a pretentious douche about it. But I grabbed it along with the Hoppin' Frog and Epic. Twin Peaks the dude was cool as hell. He went in back to check, came back and said they had plenty. I told him I'd take a 6'er! I know a lot places limit it to 2 per customer, like LiquorMart in Boulder. From now on Twin Peaks will get my business. Shot the shit about beer with the guy for about 10 minutes after I paid. Oh and they get a case of Pliny every month. He said all the employees use to take them all but now they're all a little Pliny'd out so they had a bunch in back.

btw

Sweet. Twin Peaks is hookin me up with 4 of them. You rock fasho.

[schuss]

Clown Shoes is good shit, but hard to find.

[stapes]

Sweet. Twin Peaks is hookin me up with 4 of them. You rock fasho.

Awesome.....JUST LEAVE SOME FOR ME!!!!!!!!!

[splitter]

Mikkeller invasion ipa.

[Hugh Conway]

Knee Deep Citra Extra Pale Ale is tasty - one of the nicer single hops. Still prefer multi-hop beers

[SorryBro]

Had some Pliny the Younger last night. Taste tested it next to the Elder and found the Elder to be more my style. The Younger had a lot more sugars and floral flavor. Still delicious and strong, but too sweet for me.

[Ted Striker]

SPAM for Bellinghamsters: new specialty beer store

[GetAmped]

Sierra Nevada has their Ruthless Rye IPA seasonal out now. Fairly low ABV (6.6%) compared to what I normally drink, but an excellent daily quaff that is currently at the top of the rotation since it won't be around for much longer. The rye adds spicy notes that complement the hoppiness. And having written this, it's off to the fridge...

[Ted Striker]

Speaking of SV, tried Hoptimum last night. 10% and 100 IBUs. Totally over the top. A little more flowery than I would usually go for, but in this instance it works. Slightly more carbonated than many of the typical PNW IPAs, with a nice head + lacing too.

[The AD]

On a slightly different note, Fremont's 77 is a good one. They call it a "session IPA." In other words it's low in alcohol and body especially compared to your typical Northwest style IPAs. Very quaffable!
http://www.fremontbrewing.com/43/the-beer.html

[SchralphMacchio]

That doesn't mean that I still can't find the next great band that no one's heard of at my local venue, or taphouse for that matter. There are other incredible beers out there waiting to be discovered.

Expect big things from these guys the next couple of years. I really like what they are doing. No bottling yet, and no distribution outside of OR/WA. They do make the official beer of Libtech, the Skunkape IRA.

[fool]

That Gubna is an ass-kicker. Smells like freshly trimmed nugs. My buddy and me have an ongoing joke about them causing you to trip cuz one night he had a few too many, went home, and his wife thought he was tripping. Potent.

Saw the Gubna in my local beer store today...$18/4 pack: is it that good? I'm in upstate NY so it's not like I'm local or anything, but damn, that's not cheap.

I have been really enjoying Heady Topper though (that's $12/4 pack of 16oz). Hoppy but well distributed (?)...as in it doesn't hit you all at once. The 8% is quick to sneak up on you too. I wasn't impressed the first time I had it, but it's definitely growing on me.

Oh: anyone had Great Divide Fresh Hop? All the fresh hopped IPA's I've tasted have been delicious (usually on draft though), and I'm usually a fan of GD, so I assume it's pretty tasty. Passed on buying it today, but I definitely might buy it later. Oh, and any love for Dogfish Head Burton Baton (Double/Imperial IPA, 10%)? Sounds delicious.

[SchralphMacchio]

^ Burton Baton is good, but at 10% alcohol + whatever malts are used in each of the IPAs it's just too sweet / too hot of a beer. I can't have more than a half-pint of the stuff before I'm done. I do like the bright hop component of the Imperial IPA for sure though!